Thursday, September 19, 2013

Europe August 2013

Along with the Leaf, these were the winners of the month

Leaf Takes the Lead Edition

In another chapter in the fight between the Zoe and the Leaf, the japanese car continued to gain momentum, winning 910 vs 600 in August and reaching this month the top spot in the YTD chart. On the other hand, the Zoe is losing steam, selling half of what it did last June.Thanks to their sales success in the Netherlands, the Volvo V60 Plug-In shoots up to #6, making Volvo the fourth best selling brand in Europe, with 6% share, below Toyota (#3 with 8%), Nissan (#2 with 23%) and Renault (#1 with 41%).Further down the ranking, the Chevy Volt climbs three positions to #9, thanks to a record month in Holland, while the Model S from Tesla now appears on radar, in #15, but the next months most likely will see it climb several positions in the ranking.With two third of the year gone, three models already beaten their 2012 sales record, they are the Nissan Leaf (6.364 units in '13 vs 5.290 in '12), Smart Fortwo ED (1.534 vs 994) and the Chevrolet Volt (802 vs 609). As i predicted earlier, GM dropped the price of the Ampera by some 7.500 euros, a much needed shot in the arm for that model, now that new competition (Stand up, BMW i3) is entering the market.